Stronger
by Semiopathy
Summary: Cloud finds a new light and a knew strength hidden deep within. Coming soon... part2


_**Here's a one shot on how Cloud finally finds someone to love. Hope you like this story I kind of liked it.**_

_**Disclaimer: Do not own any of the characters of Final Fantasy7 and I do not own Lani from Mystic Heroes. **_

Stronger

It was a quite and still night and everyone in Edge was sleeping silently in there homes and in there beds. He looks out the window of Seventh Heaven and sees the homeless children sleeping in the ally ways but what he could do? The planet was saved three times and yet there were still some who needed help. Some couldn't eat at times and some didn't have anywhere to go when it rained. His tried blue eyes looked out once more; he saved the planet twice and helped his friends save it again for the third time. He ran his hand through his spiky blond hair as he stood from his position near the window.

He looked over to where his best friend slept, he knew she liked him but he could never return the same feelings that she was giving him. It's been one year and she had finally moved on, she began to go out with the newspaper guy. The guy was young and he was good looking and he made Tifa very happy and that made him happy. Everyone had moved on from what had happened; Cid and Shera finally had a child of there own and live in Rocket Town. Barret had proposed to Elmyra and both moved to Coral, Marlene stayed with Tifa so that she could finish school with Denzal and her friends. Red 13 now known as Nanaki lived in Cosmo Canyon with his mate Dinne, he even had his own cubs to take care of. Reeve had also moved on, he was the leader of the WRO and he also had some he loved, no one believed him when he told them that he was going to marry Shelke, Yuffie was so shocked that she fainted right at that moment. Yuffie had gone back to Wutai and when she had returned she found that her father had remarried and that she had a little brother. Yuffie was so happy she stayed in Wutai for a whole year and then the moment she had waited for came, her father told her that she did not have to rule Wutai and that she could live her life the way she wanted but that she had to come and visit once in awhile. She moved in with Tifa and got a job at the bar. Vincent had not come by since the deep ground problem and had not been around at all. He kind of missed them all, but they all had there life to live out.

He walked out the room and headed over to his office. It was late at night and he couldn't sleep. Something was bothering him and it wasn't something small, it was something from his past and he couldn't put his finger on it. All he knew was that whatever it was it was not letting him sleep at all.

Cloud had started to go through his files once again that night, he couldn't get back to sleep and he really need to get some but every time he closed his eyes the feeling would return and that scared him a lot. He turned on the lamp and began to work with files for his deliveries.

Tifa awoke early that morning and found that Cloud was not in bed.

'Not again, why is he not in bed, this the fourth time this week.' Tifa thought to herself. She stood from her bed and slipped her slippers on and walked to the bathroom and as she walked by Cloud's office she saw him sleeping in his chair. 'Something is wrong with him; I'm going to have to speak with him later.'

Cloud awoke to the shower running, he looked at the clock on his desk and it read 6:30 a.m. He had fallen asleep looking through his paper work. He stood up and walked to his room and saw that Tifa had made her bed and his. He went to his closet and pulled out his usual attire, he grabbed his towel and went to the spare bathroom. After he showered he changed to his clothes and went down stairs to see Tifa and Yuffie getting ready to open the bar, Marlene and Denzal ran downstairs and nearly running into Cloud.

"Whoa! Slow down there you two" Cloud said. Both children looked up at him and smiled.

"Okay Cloud"

"Yah I'll watch where I'm running next time." Marlene said giving him a hug. Both sat down at the counter and Tifa sat plates before them full of eggs and bacon. Yuffie walked around the counter and punched Cloud playfully, she smiled up at him. "Good morning Cloud" she said to him in a high pitched voice. He smiled at her, she was like a little sister to him and she made him feel happy when he was really sad.

"Good morning Yuffie how did you sleep?" he asked her.

"I should be asking you, I saw you asleep at your office again. Cloud…"

"What is it Yuffie?"

"I'm worried about you, you haven't been sleeping right or eating right and you know that gets me mad. But you need to promise me one thing."

"What's that Yuffie?"

"Well you do remember what day it is today, don't you Cloud?" Yuffie said with a small pout. Cloud was confused and then he realized that today was the day for the Avalanche reunion.

"Oh!" he said softly.

"Your going to make it, aren't you Cloud? You have to! You helped save the planet too."

"I'll try Yuffie and could you do me one small favor?"

"Yah sure what is it?"

"Well, I need you to give this to everyone just incase I'm late."

"Sure!" Yuffie said. Cloud smiled, waved good bye and left to go do his deliveries.

"Hey! Cloud, wait up." Tifa came running behind him. He turned around to face her.

"Yes"

"Take this I made it for you to go." She said has she handed him a small sandwich and a juice box. He smiled at her and got on Fenrir (sorry if spelled wrong) and drove off.

Cloud walked back to Fenrir and sat on it. The deliveries were easy but it was also very tiring. He had one last package to deliver and then he could take a break. He rode to Kalm and made his last delivery. He decided that he would go and sit in the valley of flowers, he always felt at peace there and maybe it would help with his sleeping problem and help him clear his mind out. He rode off again but before he left for the valley he looked at the time to make sure he had time to go and relax.

----------------------------At the Bar-------------------------------------------------------------------

Tifa set up the bar and waited for the arrival of her friends. She hoped that they would show up she missed them a lot.

---------------------------Back to Cloud--------------------------------------------------------------

Cloud parked his motorcycle on the side of the road. He walked to the field and when he reached the area where the white and yellow flowers grow, he sat on the soft ground. He felt as though he could fall asleep right there.

Near the Valley

She ran and ran but the man would not stop following her, she had been running for hours. At first the man tried to rap her and she fought back and ran away but he followed her. She ran into a valley of flowers and fell to the ground hard but when she looked back the man was not there.

"What the…" she said when he grabbed her by the neck and through her back down to the ground hard. She gave a small whimper but she could do anything else because he grabbed her again and held her down. He ripped her shirt off and began to grab her skirt to take it off but she kicked him in the balls and stood back up.

"Now you did it you've gone to far you bastard!" she yelled at him. She then pulled out her lance and pointed it at him. The man began to get scared but then more men arrived and she knew that she could not take them all. She began to yell.

Cloud opened his eyes to a scream and stood up to see where it came from. Then he saw that there was a group of men gathered around someone holding a lance. He ran up to them and hit one of the men down to the ground and turned to look at the girl, her shirt was ripped off and she had blood coming from a head wound.

"Well it looks like I was at the right place at the right time to help this women get perverted men away from her. Know who did this to her?" Cloud asked the men began to run saying that it was Cloud. He smiled a bit as they said that but then turned his attention went back to the girl. He heard her laugh and it made him confused.

"You haven't changed one bit have you Cloud?" she said recognizing who he was.

"What are you talking about?"

"Cloud it's me, Lani" she said. Cloud's eyes looked like they took up his whole face. He couldn't believe that she was still alive.

"Lani, where have you been?"

"Cloud you've seen me but you haven't recognized me." Lani explained to him. Cloud then remembered the girl that helped him earlier with a mission a long time ago and it was her who had helped him. He smiled softly to himself.

"Why are you all the way out here anyways? Here take this and put it on." He took his vest off and gave it to Lani. She put it on and when Cloud looked at her he had to hold a laugh back because it was so big on her.

"What? What are you laughing at? Huh?" she asked him.

"Nothing, it's just that the vest looks funning on you."

"Well it is yours and you're a bit too big for me. Well what do I do now?"

"Well you need a new shirt, so I guess that I could take you back to Edge with me and maybe Tifa could help with some of those wounds." He told her heading for Fenrir. Lani looked at him and then smiled at him.

"Tifa!" she said in shock. "You know where Tifa lives?"

"Well she opened a bar in Edge and I do a delivery service now." He looked over his shoulder and saw that she had gotten to her knees holding her head. He ran over to her and saw that she was going unconscious.

"Hold on Lani I'll call for help." He pulled out his phone and called Cid. Cid had answered his phone he agreed to pick him up.

Cid came by in the airship and picked Cloud up, cloud saw that Shera, Nanaki, Dinne, the cubs, Barret and Elmyra where already picked up.

"Hey Cloud, how you been?" Barret said.

"Who's that Cloud?" Shera asked him as he placed her on the Chair.

"She's an old friend of mine and Tifa, but she ran into some trouble and here's how she ended up. Shera Do you think you could heal her up real quick?"

"Sure thing Cloud and I'll get her something to wear's well; she seems to be about Yuffie's size. Leave it to me; I'll get her all fixed up." Shera and Elmyra lifted her up and took her to one of the rooms and laid her on the bed and began to clean her wounds but Shera caught another wound on her head. She moved her hair out of the way saw that she had a big gap coming down from her forehead to her eyebrow. Shera managed to get it cleaned; she then used a restore materia. She also used a phoenix down on her so that she could revive her.

Lani woke up after she was already changed into some short black shorts and a tang top tucked into her shorts; she also wore boots that came up below her knee. She found that she had a wrap around her left thigh and the she had a small bandage on the corner of her forehead. She looked around and found herself in a small room, she stood up and saw that her bag was next to the door and that her other outfit was on the ground in a pile. Cloud walked in and saw his friend finally awake from the hit she got on her head.

"How are you feeling, Lani?" Cloud asked her.

"Well a little better, where are we?" she asked him following him out the room.

"Well we were out at the field and you just fell on the ground and I called for help and my old friend Cid came and picked us up. Would you like to meet them?"

"Them?" before she got to finish she walked into the bridge of the airship and saw two women, one holding a baby, she also saw two lion like beast with little baby cubs. She saw to men talking at the wheel speaking one of the men had blond hair and was laughing at what the other man was saying, the other man was very big he even looked like a teddy bear. The man that was driving looked over to where she and Cloud where.

"I see Cloud's buddy finally awake. So Cloud who's this pretty young lady?" Cid asked.

"Hi, I'm Lani, Cloud's old friend from a long time ago."

"Well I'm Cid Highwind and that lady over there with e baby is Shera my wife and that my baby Jenny and this man here is Barret Wallace and his wife Elmyra and that Nanaki with his mate Dinne and his Cubs Lulu and Kiki." Cid pointed around the room.

"Nice to meet you all and thank you for helping me" she said looking at the two women.

"CAPTAIN WE HAVE REACHED EDGE" a voice came from the intercom of the airship. Cid took the wheel and land out in the small area out of Edge.

-----------------------At the Bar------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tifa, Tifa there finally here" Marlene said running downstairs and out the door to greet her father. She ran right into Barret arms.

"How's my little girl doing?"

"She's doing great daddy and how's teddy bear been?" she giggled. They walked in one by one. Lani looked at the women at the door greeting all of them as they walked in; Cloud saw the confusion in her eyes then smiled.

"That's Tifa" he said pointing at her. Lani looked at Tifa and saw that she had changed from the last time she had seen her which was about three years ago.

"Hi Cloud… who's this?" she asked him as he walked in.

"Well Tifa this is an old friend of ours, Lani" Tifa looked at her and at that very moment she gave her a big hug and lead her inside.

After everyone got to know Lani a bit more, Cid even gave her a nick name; he started to call her Lilly, which was what her name meant any way. Cloud had gone to his room to get a little rest and to get over the shock of seeing Lani again. He sat in bed as the party downstairs was going on. He began to fall into a deep sleep until he heard a soft knock at the door of his and Tifa's room.

"Come in" Cloud said. Lani walked in with a cup of water in her hands.

"Here, you haven't come down to your own party. What's wrong Cloud?"

"Nothing I'm just tired that's all" he replied.

"Your lying to me Cloud and I can tell" she told him sitting down on the ground next to his bed. She smiled up at him and he couldn't help but smile when she looked up at him the way she did the day he found out that she had a crush on him. He never told her he knew but he always wanted to know what would have happened if he would have told her that he liked her as well.

"Cloud do you think that the planet still in danger, I mean do you think that you will have to risk your life again for everyone." All he did was listen to her speak. "I don't want to lose any more people even though I know your strong, I just can't help but feel that you are going to be in trouble." She looked back up at him. "Cloud I have to tell you something…"

"What is it?"

"When we were younger I used to like you and I haven't stopped liking you and when I saw you today I was just so happy to see you again I didn't know how to react." She slowly stood up to leave the room but Cloud caught her, turned her around and kissed her. Her eyes were wide open but slowly closed as they held there kiss. He put his arm around her waist as the other hand was at the back of her head. She put her arms around his neck as they both deepen the kiss. Both pulled back slowly and he gave her a smile and made her blush a little, a pink shade taking over her face.

"Lani, I didn't tell you then but I liked you and I still do but I don't know if I'm strong enough to move on just yet." She looked up at him and put his face in her hands.

"Cloud, you are stronger than you were back then, listen to me if all of your friends moved on why can't you. I mean faith made us cross paths again; maybe it's trying to show you its time to move on. Cloud I love and I know you're stronger and that you could do what you want and that if anything ever goes wrong again I'll be here for you now that I have found you." She smiled up at him and he smiled back he knew that she was telling him the truth. At that very moment his tried blue eyes began to glow.

Back down stairs a little romance was happening as well. Yuffie was dancing with Marlene and Denzal when a tall, dark man walked into the bar. He walked right over to where Yuffie was and turned her to face him.

Vincent looked down at the girl that had taken his heart and put it together again; he lifted her hand and placed a silver band on her finger. She jumped in joy and everyone around them who where watching the scene play out in front of them began to cheer, some saying that it was about time. Yuffie looked up him and stood on her toes and placed a kiss on top of his, making a red shade come to there faces. Cloud walked downstairs to see that two of his friends that were complete opposites kiss each other. He began to cheer with the others. But two questions were hanging in the air.

"Vincent, where have you been?" Tifa asked the man.

"Well… I was trying to find a way to show her my feelings." He said pointing at Yuffie making her blush a deep red.

"Okay one down one more to go. Cloud and Lani what's with the hand holding and the big smiles?" Tifa asked. Both looked at the others in front of them and then Lani spoke up.

"Well… Cloud finally told me he cared for me than just a friend."

"Oh I see he finally grew up." Tifa said with a laugh. Cloud began to laugh with the others after Tifa's comment. He knew that he was stronger, and as he looked into Lani's brown eyes he knew it was time to move on completely.

'_I've seen many things before but at this moment I know I'm STRONGER than before.'_

_**Hoped you liked. Please review and sorry if it was a little bit quick but I couldn't wait to make my romance scene. **_


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